I snatched the first 15 book of the Horus Heresy series from Humble bundle for a bargain, so starting with Horus Rising I have my reading schedule full for a few months. If I like these there are another 26 books left, and the series is still running.

I finished The Broken Empire trilogy yesterday. I found it a bit lacking. Characters seemed a bit flat.The main character in particular, did a lot of evil things for no purpose other than just to shock the reader. The plot seemed a bit contrived. Which was exaggerated by the fact that action jumps from "now" to "5 years ago" and back.I liked the idea of a post-apocalyptic world.

I'm also listening to an audio book of Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie and I'm reading Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson. Both are collections of short stories (based in The First Law universe and Cosmere respectively). Generally good, although, some of the stories in the latter are too short, they touch on something interesting without going into any details. From Sanderson I liked Emperor's soul and Mistborn: Secret History in particular.

I didn't realize Sanderson had a short stories collection. Will have to pick that up. I've started half a dozen series this year. Most have been fairly good but nothing world changing. After I finish some of them I'll report in if any of them turn out better than I expected.

I enjoyed The Broken Empire. But I can see why others might not. His newest book was good. Red Sister. I think it's going to be a trilogy as well. Very different stuff though. It's nowhere near as dark. I would probably recommend you skip The Red Queen's war if you weren't crazy about The Broken Empire. Same world but following Jorg's cousin Jalan. Who never wants to do the right thing (but usually does) and is a colossal fuck up most of the time. It's almost a comedy. I enjoyed it but not as much as the first series.

The Traitor Son Cycle is probably the best I've read this year. I think it finishes up later in the year. If I had to recommend something other than Malazan that I've read the past couple years it might be that.

"Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their time." “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ~~Voltaire

Collecemall wrote:I didn't realize Sanderson had a short stories collection. Will have to pick that up.

From what I understand most of the stories had been published before in one form or another. The one that hasn't been published is the final one in the book, The Edgedancer. It's about Lift from Stormlight Archive. Lift is a character from one of the "intermission" novellas/short stories. According to the postscript, this story sort of explains some of the things that happened between the 2nd and the 3rd book of the series.

It's a cool story. I could instantly tell the difference between Sanderson and the previous book I'd read.

It really was as good a read as I expected it to be. I didn't take from it the same conclusion about the Three Laws that the person who finally gave me sufficient motivation to purchase the book did, however. He claimed the Three Laws don't work, and cited the book as evidence of that claim. Upon reading it, I found the book seemed to reach the opposite conclusion overall; while some specific incidents caused some discord within the laws, overall the laws seemed to win out in the end, for better or worse.

I only wonder if the major conflicts my opponent spoke of occurred in later books in the series, of which there were four total. In time I shall purchase and read those books as well, but based solely on I, Robot, my opponent appears to be wrong about the efficacy of the Three Laws. In theory, anyway. This is science fiction we are talking about, after all; in practice, I don't think we know enough yet.

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The very thing that gives us humans our advanced cognitive abilities can also be our greatest weakness.

I would be interested in your review of Cronin. I have a few of his but haven't read any yet.

I'm currently reading Brian Staveley's Chronicles Of The Unhewn Throne. Halfway through book one and really enjoying it.

Also doing my third re-read of Malazan using the recommended reading order mixing in the works Esslemont did as well.

"Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their time." “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ~~Voltaire

You might enjoy the coursera course of the same title "Soul Beliefs" it has been a couple of years since I went through the course but they had Julien as a guest speaker for part of it when I took it. They offer it several times a year I think and it is of course free. They have one starting up tomorrow as a matter of fact. https://www.coursera.org/learn/soulbeliefs

"Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their time." “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ~~Voltaire

You might enjoy the coursera course of the same title "Soul Beliefs" it has been a couple of years since I went through the course but they had Julien as a guest speaker for part of it when I took it. They offer it several times a year I think and it is of course free. They have one starting up tomorrow as a matter of fact. https://www.coursera.org/learn/soulbeliefs

So, I finished The Reckoners some time ago. I liked it, although it was more a sci-fi story than fantasy.After finishing that I didn't know what to read so I started The Lies of Locke Lamora but didn't like it so I put it down for now.

Currently I'm reading Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb. It's the first book in 3rd trilogy taking place in The Realm of the Elderlings universe. I skipped the 2nd trilogy because from what I understand it dealt with different characters that the original trilogy. I was curious what happened with Fitz after the original trilogy. So far I'm liking it.